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Thanks to special caps used in Liv Hospital, you are given a chance to reduce hair loss from chemotherapy.

These caps;

1. It causes blood vessels in the scalp to shrink, thanks to its cooling system, therefore it reduces the amount of drug, which reaches to roots of hair.
2. When the scalp is cooled down, hair follicles absorb less of the drugs, this, as a consequence, means that the concentration of the drug can be reduced.
3. Cooling down the scalp may decrease the efficacy of the drug and therefore reduces its interaction with roots of hair.
These mechanisms reduces the effect of cytotoxic drugs on hair follicles and accordingly the hair loss.
The treatment, which will be given using DigniCap™ system, is carried out while the drugs to treat the cancer are being administered to body. The temperature of the scalp is monitored and cooling is adjusted accordingly.
The patient wears a cooling silicone cap. Coolant circulates through channels in the silicone cap, thanks to air conditioning unit system of DigniCap™.

In case hair loss

Maintaining scalp cooling treatment, even in case of excessive hair loss or bald areas, can be effective in ensuring re-growth during advancing chemotherapy cycles. Most of the patients, who initially experienced hair loss, then have normal hair growth following the scalp cooling treatment.

Robotic Surgery has numerous advantages in the surgery of Prostate Cancer. Here are the 7 most common ones:

• Less Loss of Blood: In robotic radical prostatectomy surgery, the abdomen is inflated with gas. This gas pressure leads to a significant reduction in bleeding. The gas is discharged from the abdomen at the end of the operation. Moreover, bleeding can be more clearly detected and stopped earlier with the use of 3-D high definition cameras that can magnify the operation area. There is generally no need for blood transfusions.
• Shorter Hospitalization Periods: Since robotic surgery involves smaller incisions and much less loss of blood, patients are discharged from hospital earlier than when compared with open surgery operations.
• Shorter Catheter Period: Since robotic prostatectomy surgery enables waterproof stitching together of the urinary bladder and urinary tract (anastomosis), the catheter can be removed within 6-7 days.
• Less Pain: Because of the smaller surgical incisions, patients experience less pain and discomfort compared to open surgery procedures.
• Improved Cancer Control: With the aid of 3-D high definition images and instruments that can move in 7 degrees, the prostate tissue can be more clearly observed during the robotic prostatectomy procedure. In robotic surgery the prostate apical region can be seen much more clearly and operated on much more precisely. As a result, surgical margin positivities are significantly reduced.
• Improved Bladder Control: Bladder control is regained earlier in robotic prostatectomy patients when compared to those who have undergone traditional surgery. Factors that help to achieve earlier bladder control include better imagery, less bleeding and the retention of a longer urethra.
• An Earlier Return to Normal Sex Life: Robotic prostatectomy facilitates the protection of the neurovascular bundle around the prostate and allows patients to return to a normal sex life earlier than is the case with traditional surgery.

Please note that our doctors provide free-of-charge second opinion service to our International Patients. To access to our secound opinion service, or for more information about how we add value in the treatment of Prostate Cancer, feel free to call us at +908502222548 or to contact us by clicking here.

Having a risk factor for cancer does not necessarily mean that person will get cancer. Some women with one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop breast cancer, while most women with breast cancer have no apparent risk factors.

Here is a list of significantly higher risk factors:

Getting older:
Your risk for breast cancer increases as you age. About 77% of women diagnosed with breast cancer each year are over age 50, and almost 50% are age 65 and older. Consider this: In women 40 to 49 years of age, there is a one in 68 risk of developing breast cancer. In the 50 to 59 age group, that risk increases to one in 37.

Direct family history:
Having a mother, sister, or daughter (“first-degree” relative) who has breast cancer puts a woman at higher risk for the disease. The risk is even greater if this relative developed breast cancer before menopause and had cancer in both breasts. Having one first-degree relative with breast cancer approximately doubles a woman’s risk, and having two first-degree relatives increases her risk fivefold. Having a male blood relative with breast cancer will also increase a woman’s risk of the disease.

Genetics:
Carriers of alterations in either of two familial breast cancer genes called BRCA1 or BRCA2 are at higher risk. Women with an inherited alteration in either of these genes have up to an 85% chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime.

Breast lesions:
A previous breast biopsy result of atypical hyperplasia (lobular or ductal) or lobular carcinoma in situ increases a woman’s breast cancer risk by four to five times.

For more information about how we can assist you in understanding your risk, please call us at +90850 2222 548 or drop us a message through our Facebook page.

Prof. Dr. Oktar Asoğlu chaired the inaugural symposium organized within the scope of Liv Hospital’s collaboration with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), during which doctors were briefed on ‘Personalized Approaches to Colorectal Cancer Patients’.

Comıng together for the second time for their joint ‘Current Surgical Approaches to Thyroid Cancer and Individual Treatment Approaches to Breast Cancer Symposium’, Liv Hospital and world-famous cancer center MSKCC gathered together doctors from Turkey and around the world. The public session held was an opportunity for members of the public to benefit from a Q&A session. The doctors-only sessions considered diagnostic, treatment and surgical methods in breast and thyroid cancer cases.

A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE

A total of 143 doctors registered for the symposium, 107 from Turkey and 36 from abroad. Amongst the topics up for discussion at the ‘Current Surgical Approaches to Thyroid Cancer’ session were the development of thyroid cancer treatments, current approaches to lateral neck procedures, ways to prevent complications in primary and secondary thyroid cancer surgical interventions and the contribution of nerve monitorization, post-operative treatment methods in differentiated thyroid cancer cases, approaches to the treatment of recurrences of thyroid cancer in the neck, and the contribution of new targeted agents to treatment. MSKCC’s Dr. Ashok R. Shaha shared his knowledge on the latest developments in breast cancer treatment and new methods of treatment. At the session on ‘Personalized Treatment Approaches in Breast Cancer Cases’, MSKCC’s Breast Surgeon Dr. Hiram S. Cody shared the latest developments in breast cancer and new therapies with his colleagues. The main issues discussed included quality assurance in breast cancer screening and healthcare services, current applications in breast cancer screening, early treatment of breast cancer, local breast cancer treatment, post-mastectomy radiation therapy and breast reconstruction, and the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

A live robotic surgery course has been held in cooperation between Liv Hospital and the Turkish Colorectal Surgery Association. Within the scope of the course, two live operations were carried out and simultaneously shared with participants.

The Turkish Colorectal Surgery Association’s 1st Robotic Surgery Course was held in the Liv Hospital Conference Hall on 15th December.

The history and current status of robotic surgery was explained during the first session. Following the opening session, doctors discussed basic concepts, following which the live surgery procedure took place.

The meeting continued with live interactive connection with the doctors in the hall throughout the Da Vinci operation performed by Prof. Dr. Oktar Asoglu. After the second operation, the course concluded with an assessment and evaluation session.

Another ‘First’ in Turkey… Google Glass technology gives a Turkish doctor’s bird’s eye view to a colleague in Japan …

The most noteworthy aspect of the symposium held at Bilgi University on 13th December was a live “difficult coronary vessel stenting” case. Google Glass technology was employed for the first time in Turkey in such a context. The conference was attended by 170 participants from throughout Turkey as well as 40 cardiologists from abroad. The ACS (Advanced Cardiovascular Solutions) Symposium’s main sponsor was TİKA (the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency), noted for its remarkable work in representing Turkey at international forums. TİKA scored a major success in sponsoring the ACS symposium, which drew such significant attendance from physicians from around the world. The ACS 2014 Symposium attracted 36 cardiovascular surgeons and specialists from ten countries – Kosovo, Albania, Georgia, Yemen, Macedonia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan and Moldova. Performed at Liv Hospital, the live case was transmitted directly to cardiology doctors in Japan and to observers at the conference hall in Istanbul by means of Google Glass technology attached to glasses worn by Liv Hospital Cardiology Specialist Associate Professor Dr. Alp Burak Çatakoğlu, while simultaneous medical consultation was provided – from Japan. Thanks to this tele-medicine application of Google Glass, a doctor at a remote location had exactly the same view as the doctor carrying out the procedure. The procedure was watched live by symposium observers as well as the doctors in Japan.

The difficult live case procedure was carried out at Liv Hospital by Cardiology Specialist Associate Professor Dr. Alp Burak Çatakoğlu, accompanied by colleagues from Hungary. The procedure was broadcast on a direct live link to Japan. Google Glass technology with the capacity to obtain and record HD video and still images was used; internet connectivity means that images shot with Google Glass can be transmitted anywhere in the world. This feature makes the technology eminently adaptable to tele-medicine applications. The symposium witnessed exactly such an application.

A Four-Session Symposium

The first session was devoted to interventional cardiology. Techniques, new medications and devices used in cases of obstructive clots in patients with vascular infarction were discussed during the session. Various imaging methods used in coronary artery angioma cases were considered during the second session. Technical details in bifurcation stenting constituted the topic of the third session, following the Google Glass-accompanied procedure. The fourth session was devoted to new perspectives on aortic and mitral valve treatments.

The ACS 2014 Symposium was held at sessions that were open to the public at Liv Hospital on 12th December, and on Saturday 13th December at Bilgi University’s Santral Istanbul Campus.

International Participation

The program ran from 08.45 to 18.00, gathering together prominent cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons from Turkey and abroad in 4 separate all-day sessions that incorporated 21 interactive presentations and 2 live cases. The symposium was addressed by a total of 34 guest speakers.

“The results further suggest that efforts to improve the detection and removal of precancerous polyps will likely not only help patients, but will support current efforts to improve the quality of the test and be cost-effective,” said study lead author Reinier Meester, of Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

In the study, higher-quality colonoscopies were associated with a 50 to 60 percent lower risk forcolon cancerand colon cancer fatalities over a patient’s lifetime.

Higher-quality screenings did not translate into more expensive screenings, the research team noted in the June 16 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Association.

The purpose of screening colonoscopy is to detect and remove early cancerous or precancerous lesions. During the outpatient procedure, a doctor uses a scope to examine the inside of the large intestine.

The American Cancer Society recommends that most people undergo colon cancer screening beginning at the age of 50. This means either a colonoscopy every 10 years or one of several other options every five years: flexible sigmoidoscopy, virtual colonoscopy, or double-contrast barium enema.

To assess how the detection rate of a colonoscopy may affect a patient’s future cancer risk, the study team looked at data concerning nearly 57,600 patients who were part of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health care system.

Those patients who underwent colon cancer screening had their colonoscopies performed by 136 different doctors between 1998 and 2010.

The analysis concluded that undergoing a colonoscopy, regardless of quality, does save lives. For example, the lifetime colon cancer risk among those who didn’t get screened was more than 34 per 1,000. This compared with less than 27 per 1,000 among those screened by doctors who were the least adept at spotting polyps and under 13 per 1,000 for those screened by the most skillful polyp spotters.

For this study, physicians were rated based on the number of adenomas (polyps likely to be cancerous) detected and the number of colonoscopies he or she performed.

Dr. Andrew Chan, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the finding “adds to the growing body of evidence that variation in the quality of colonoscopies is associated with substantial differences in the ability of the test to prevent colorectal cancer.”

The most important finding from this study, Chan said, is that a higher rate of detection of precancerous polyps does not lead to greater overall costs to the health care system.

“From a public health standpoint, this suggests that our current strategy of striving to find as many polyps as possible does not lead to tradeoffs in terms of higher costs,” Chan said.

But how do patients find the best colonoscopy doctor for the job? Meester himself acknowledges that in many settings there are no reliable data to measure detection of adenomas.

Dr. David Carr-Locke, chief of the digestive diseases division at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, suggested the first thing is to ensure that the physician has the appropriate training in colonoscopy and, if possible, can quote his or her adenoma detection rate for a screening colonoscopy.

“Membership in the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy or other local professional societies that require documentation of training is a good guide,” he said. “Health care systems sometimes issue colonoscopy quality report cards per physician. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will also be scrutinizing physicians’ performance quality in the near future and are likely to make these data public knowledge.”

After your colonoscopy, Carr-Locke said, “your physician should inform you of the pathology of the polyps removed and tell you when your next colonoscopy should be performed according to published national guidelines.”

About LIV Hospital

LIV Hospital presents high quality healthcare on an international level which earned itself the American-based Joint Commission International (JCI) quality accreditation certificate and the European ISO certificate of TÜV.

With a patient-based approach, top talented doctors, experienced helthcare staff and state-of-the-art technology, Liv Hospitals operate in Istanbul and Ankara among the best A-Class Hospitals in Europe.